Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Friday, March 22:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were slightly higher Friday as Cyprus struggled to avoid financial collapse after Russia, which has billions of dollars of deposits in Cypriot banks, brushed off the island-country's pleas for financial aid.

European stocks were trading lower, while Asian stocks finished in the red on Friday. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 plummeted 2.4% to close at 12,338.53

Nike said revenue in North America, which accounts for 40% of its sales, rose 18% to $2.55 billion.

5. -- Tiffany ( TIF), the upscale jewelry retailer, posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $179.6 million, or $1.40 a share, up slightly from earnings of $178.4 million, or $1.39 a share, a year earlier.

Tiffany said Friday it expects that net sales in the current fiscal year will increase 6% to 8%.

6. -- Friday marks the end of a 45-day period that Dell's ( DELL) board set to allow for offers that might top a deal reached in February to sell the PC maker to CEO Michael Dell and a group of investors for $24.4 billion.

Blackstone Group ( BX) is emerging as the most likely candidate to trump the current bid of $13.65 a share, The Associated Press reported Friday.

7. -- BP ( BP), the U.K. energy giant, said Friday it would repurchase $8 billion of its shares, distributing to shareholders some of the proceeds from the sale of its stake in its Russian unit, TNK-BP, to OAO Rosneft.

8. -- Micron Technology ( MU) posted a loss in its fiscal second quarter of $286 million, or 28 cents a share, as revenue rose 3% to $2.08 billion.

Analysts were looking for a quarterly loss of 20 cents a share on revenue of $1.92 billion.